Noor Dubai, the UAE-born charity initiative focused on preventing and treating low vision and curable forms of blindness around the world, treated around 30,000 people of all ages last week in Sudan and Bangladesh at its free cataract treatment camps. These camps witnessed remarkable treatment records by undertaking more than 3000 surgery in one week.

His Excellency Qadhi Saeed Al Murooshid, CEO of Noor Dubai and Director General of the Dubai Health Authority, said that Noor Dubai camps are witnessing overwhelming response from patients of all ages at many remote areas in the world. He said the camps have helped restore the vision of 30,000 people in Al Obiadh in Sudan and the Tanguila region in Bangladesh.

Of those, more than 26,000 men, women and children were treated with medication and prescription eyeglasses funded by the initiative; an additional 3,200 were identified for surgery, with priority given to those with cataracts in both eyes and those in advanced stages of the disease.

“Noor Dubai has succeeded in dealing with critical humanitarian concerns of people of all ages who are unable to get the right treatment. The Noor Dubai surgical team worked two six-hour shifts every day, completing an average of 400 successful surgeries daily,” Al Murooshid said. “Every one of these surgeries represents an improved life, and we are privileged to be able to offer this treatment.”

Noor Dubai’s camp in Al Obiadh screened and treated more than 16,000 patients and achieved around 2,000 surgeries. Those treated include people as young as a 3-year old to an 110-year-old woman. The oldest patient treated at the Tanguila camp was a 85-year-old man with mature cataracts, whose vision had been reduced to light perception only; the youngest was a 20-years-old girl with congenital cataracts and severe vision deterioration. Both patients were treated successfully.

Noor Dubai’s camps are the latest cataract camps to be held in developing countries. Recently, successful camps were also held in Sudan, drawing 14,000 individuals; Pakistan, with 12,000 patients; and Sri Lanka, drawing 14,000 patients and Yemen 11,000 patients. Eye camps will also be held in Chad, Niger and Nigeria in coming weeks. Another Sudan camp will be organised in the coming days.

Noor Dubai, launched by UAE Vice President and Ruler of Dubai HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum in September 2008, has set a target of treating more than one million patients in its first year, via free treatment camps in Dubai, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Sudan and Yemen and other areas in the world.

Closer to home, Noor Dubai has also given the gift of full vision to more than 800 patients from Palestine, Iraq, Sudan, Jordan, Mali, Egypt and Syria and across the GCC, flying individuals from their home countries into Dubai for treatment at Dubai Hospital and other city facilities. The initiative is also working towards establishing an eye camp in Gaza to treat children and adults with preventable blindness and visual impairment, and those whose vision was affected during the recent conflict.

In coming weeks, the initiative will also move more into its second and third phases, focusing on prevention, education and awareness.

Noor Dubai, the latest global charitable initiative from the government of Dubai and the UAE, was launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, on September 3, 2008, with the aim of delivering preventative eye care to more than one million people around the world. The initiative’s vision is for a world free from curable forms of blindness and impaired vision.